Thankful
by Cairistona
Summary: Aurion-Blaze, a new bot to earth, isn't sure what this strange "Thanksgiving" holiday is, and Prowl, whom she asks about it, doesn't grasp the concept of the holiday. Research and explanations follow, and both learn its meaning. Fluff.


A fluffy, random one-shot I came up with last night and wrote today. :) Auri is my OC, her full story is called, "You Have Found a Home," and you can find it on my profile page if you want to read it. She's very new to earth, and she works in Prowl's office, as you'll see. Enjoy! :)

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><p><strong>Thankful<strong>

"Good morning, Commander Prowl!" Auri greeted the Second-in-Command as she entered his office.

"Good morning," He replied, glancing up from his work to give his little subordinate a brief acknowledging nod. He was back to his work the next moment, and she headed over to her computer.

As usual, Auri had to update the NEST intranet site and review comments on articles and messages on the message-board before allowing them to appear on the site. She worked in silence, a content, happy silence. While she liked to talk, Prowl generally did not care for conversation while he worked, so she respected his wishes.

She could ask questions, though, if they were important. Prowl had gently discouraged "simply curious" questions and instructed her to save them for asking her guardians later. Auri was fine with this; she didn't feel rebuffed or rejected. She knew the Commander had more important things to do than to answer youngling questions.

One question did come to her processor this morning, though, and she wasn't sure if it was important or not. She stared at her computer screen and hesitated, mulling it over. Presently she decided that it probably wouldn't be too bothersome if she asked the question. She was fairly good about not asking unimportant questions, so if this one turned out to be unimportant, it probably wouldn't bring that slight frown of Prowl's on her.

"Prowl…?" she ventured.

"Yes, Aurion?" He answered, looking up. He was the one bot who'd not completely shortened her name. At least he didn't call her by her full name, Aurion-Blaze. That was just for her guardians to do when she was in trouble.

"What is 'Thanksgiving'?" she asked.

Prowl paused, trying to determine why she would be asking such a thing. He found no answer and went on to answer. "It is the act of giving thanks for something."

"Hmm…" Auri looked from him to her computer then back at him again, "Then… what does 'early Thanksgiving greetings' mean?"

"Oh!" Prowl suddenly realized why she asked. "In this case it refers to an American holiday."

"Ahhh…! I see. So, some of the allies are posting early holiday greetings." Auri said, smiling at the outpouring of friendship and goodwill among the humans.

"Yes." Prowl said, turning back to his computer and paper work. He supposed the matter was concluded.

He had about a minute and a half of silence.

"Commander?"

"Yes, Aurion?"

"What is the celebration about?"

Prowl drew a blank. What celebration? Oh, that celebration. He had almost completely forgotten that they had been talking about Thanksgiving, so wrapped up in his work was he.

"Thanksgiving…?" Auri prompted, noting his pause.

"It…" what _did_ he know about Thanksgiving? "It is an annual celebration that involves grouping with family members, especially disliked ones, to gorge on turkey and various high-starch, high-calorie, and high-carb food items." Prowl answered. "Some of the activities also include extensive viewing of competitive sports on television and excessive drinking."

"Oh…" Auri grimaced. It sounded rather dreadful. "And they do it every year?"

Prowl nodded. "Every fourth Thursday of November."

"And they like it?"

"I cannot say for certain, but because they continue to do it, I would assume so." The logical bot replied carefully.

"Hm." This was slightly disturbing to the young femme. "What is the point of it?"

"That I do not know."

"Oh." This was rather troubling. She'd not been on earth for a very long, and she was still getting accustomed to it. Some things were downright unnerving. This was one of them. Her curiosity was more than satisfied for the moment, though, and she turned back to her work.

TxTxTxTxTxTxTxT

The following day was Thanksgiving Day. As a military base, NEST could not completely take the day off, so the personal was given half the day off.

Prowl wasn't interested in engaging in celebrations, and he'd always managed to evade getting summoned to a gathering. He managed to keep a full day of work. Auri would get the afternoon off, though, with everybody else. There was some sort of feast being held by the bots later; he'd received an email invitation to it. But, he wasn't going. He didn't like social gatherings, and there was no reason to go.

Auri came in into work, and she was grinning mischievously as she came through the door. Prowl would even go so far as to say that she was even smirking.

And something told him that she was smirking at _him_.

"Good morning, Commander." She greeted. This time he heard delighted amusement in her tone.

"Good morning." He was a little on his guard now. He hated to admit it, but he was somewhat curious over her mood.

She smiled and went over to her computer. Then, without another word, she started her work.

Prowl never went back to his. He watched her, debating whether or not to ask what was so funny. She was easily amused, and it usually was something illogical. But… sometimes curiosity did overtake him.

Eventually, he decided that he would ask. First of all, though, he looked around to make sure that something behind him hadn't been pranked. No, everything appeared normal.

"Well," he said, "Are you going to share the source of your great amusement?"

Auri's door-wings shook with repressed laughter.

"Yes, Commander," She said, turning to face him. "With all due respect, sir, you are quite uniformed on Thanksgiving." she told him with tiny giggle.

"A-oh." Prowl really wasn't sure what to say to this. He usually wasn't wrong. "Am I?" he asked.

Auri nodded certainly. "Thanksgiving marks a time when the first-comers to America had almost nothing to eat and endured hardship."

"Their descendants celebrate this…?" the thought was disturbing. A day celebrating ones ancestors' privations…?

"Naw..." Auri used Ironhide's drawling negative with a smile. "The first-comers celebrated that fact that they were alive and free. They celebrated because they had survived the past and had high hopes for the future."

"Ah." That was much, much better. That Prowl could make sense of.

"The first one is said to have lasted three whole days! And the celebration became a tradition more or less over the years, celebrated on and off. And then it became a national holiday in 1863. Only it was celebrated on various dates in November 'cause they couldn't decide which day until 1941."

"Ah." Prowl said. He was in slight shock by the role reversal. Usually he was explaining things to Auri, not the other way around. It wasn't bad at all though. She was very sweet and gentle about explaining things.

"It was quite interesting to research." Auri added.

"I am sure it was." Prowl replied, a tiny bit of warmth creeping into his voice. He knew how much she loved to learn about things that were new to her.

"Some people _do_ do the things you spoke of, but not everybody. Only some people watch football. Lots of people gather with friends, and _plenty_ stay sober. And they take time to reflect on things that they are thankful for."

Prowl nodded. "That _would_ make sense…" he agreed rather sheepishly. Why, of course, he should have put that together! It was called, "Thanksgiving" after all. One would give thanks on that day.

"Indeed." Auri replied with a smile. It was neat to get to explain something to somebody once in a while. It was something she rarely got to do, but it was rewarding. The look on a bot's face as he came to an understanding was a marvelous thing to witness.

"Thank-you for explaining it, Aurion." Prowl said graciously with an almost friendly half-smile. "And I apologize for my misinformation."

"It's alright, Commander." Auri replied, "And you're welcome."

Prowl nodded in acknowledgement, then signaled that work had to be done.

Auri finished up her shift of work after a few hours. Then she shut down her computer and slipped off her chair. "See you later or tomorrow, Prowl." She said, hesitating a little.

"See you tomorrow." Prowl said, rising from his chair. "Did you finish sorting these files?" he asked, crossing over to a cabinet to indicate them.

"I did." Auri said, still hesitating.

"Is there something…?" Prowl asked.

Auri nodded. "I just would like to say… I'm thankful that I have you for a friend." She said swiftly, suddenly shy because she knew Prowl didn't like things to be personal.

"I…" Prowl was surprised. Really, most bots thought him too stern and too strict to be a friend. "I am honored to be considered your friend." He managed to say. And he truly meant it.

"It's an honor to be one!" Auri darted over and gave him a very quick hug.

"Oh-!"

Then Auri was gone the next moment, away and out the door.

Prowl stood alone in his office for several moments, then a reluctant, soft smile stole up onto his countenance, his spark touched by the young femme's words and actions. His past had built up bitterness in him; he'd suffered so many losses, had so many friends killed, had gone through so many horrible days and nights. He had become hard and cold to the worlds, hard-hearted to protect himself from becoming broken-hearted.

Then Auri had come, warm and sweet. And she had just reminded him that good things still remained in the worlds. He did have life. He did have friends. And he did have a future to look forward to, even though the past had been awful.

And he was a new-comer to a strange land with high hopes.

He slowly went over to his desk and looked back at his email, finding the message that invited all the bots to the lodge for a Thanksgiving feast. There really was no reason for not going, but plenty of reasons _to_ go. He nodded to himself and went back to work. He wanted to get as much done as possible in the next few hours; he was getting off early to go to a celebration.

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><p>Happy Thanksgiving, everybody! :D I'm thankful for my internet friends! These are some of my best ones on FFN, Ardikani4, Chosen-Angel6, BaronessOrc, Jacqueline Walker, Lunar Mist, MISCrasyaboutfanfics, Noella50881, The Silent Hunter, yorushihe , and Zoey The Wolf. *HUGS*<p> 


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